There At The Birth

By some incredible stroke of luck, we were actually there at the birth on that dark night as people clambered around the central platform where people spent their leisure time and ate their lunch, eagerly peering through the night in an effort to hear the incredibly loud noises that could be heard all around the nature park. The strangest thing, however, was that no one knew that this elephant was pregnant!

No Signs

Strange as it might seem, but no one actually knew that the mother ‘Dok Ngern‘ (translated from Thai to English as ‘Silver Flower‘) was actually carrying at that stage as all eyes were on another elephant that was showing the typical behaviour of a pregnant elephant, for example, gathering ‘Auntie‘ elephants around her as emotional support.

Given the sheer size of elephants and the physical makeup of their structure, organs and skin; it’s actually quite hard to tell from the outside that one elephant might be carrying a baby, and the only real way to know is to use an invasive camera system, but no one really wants to disturb the mother or the child, so for the most part potentially pregnant elephants at Elephant Nature Park are left to do things on their own terms.

“New baby, baby coming!”

So when the sun went down and the echoing noises of Dok Ngern began to rattle around the valley that Elephant Nature Park sits in, no one could really decipher what the matter could be, especially since the most likely pregnant elephant was resting at the opposite side to the park.

Over everyone began to come to the side of the platform closest to Dok Ngern which just so happened to be where we were sitting that night. After a moment we all started to voice our opinions as to what might be the matter. Could someone be ill?

Leaving things to the professionals, we all stood and attempted to peer through the night to see what was happening in the elephant’s sleeping area when suddenly one of the mahouts came running up the stairs shouting; “Baby coming! Baby coming!“.

To say we were all excited would be an understatement, and there were a few who were busting to run down and take a look, but sensibly we all realised the seriousness of the matter and passed the word round that we should keep our distance and let the professionals handle business.

After a while the adrenaline died down a little and everyone went back to their activities or simple went to bed hoping that the sun would enter the elephant park early so that we might all get a look at the newborn, and we were right there when the sun rose – look who we found:

Saying Hello To Dok Mai

That small bundle you see above is the less than a day old Dok Mai, which translated from Thai to English means ‘The Fount Of All Flowers‘, a beautiful name for a spectacularly beautiful little girl.

With her being so young, however, we knew that it was best that we left her and the new mother alone and kept our distance for the proceeding days so that mother and daughter could adjust to the new long lives they have together at this incredible elephant sanctuary in Thailand, if not the best; but before we did leave the park at the end of our month long stay helping the incredible dogs that we miss so much, we did make sure to pop by once or twice to say Hello and Goodbye for the final time, and on one such occasion got to see Dok Mai meet her new mahout for the first time.

We’re So Lucky

We know that we’re incredibly lucky to have been there at the right time and the right place as baby elephants aren’t born so regularly and even more so in surroundings as nice as they are at Elephant Nature Park and we hope that we’ve been able to share the incredibly surprising experience with you with these pictures and our story of the day we saw and elephant being born.

I’m forever wishing that I can save every elephant from the selfish money-hungry people who use elephants for their own personal gain. Really bums me out.Dale recently posted…Five Tips and Pics for Antwerp

What a special moment it must have been, so moving! And look how adorable the baby elephant looks – I’ve never seen a photo of a newborn elephant before! lovely post!Shikha (whywasteannualleave) recently posted…Perito Moreno Glacier, Patagonia, Argentina

Ahhhh what a gorgeous baby elephant! I’ve read a lot of really grim and distressing posts about elephants recently, so it’s really heart-warming to see something so beautiful and positive on the elephant front.Charlie recently posted…How Much Does it Cost to Travel Poland?

What an amazing experience! I’m practically obsessed with elephants. We were lucky enough to visit Boon Lott’s Elephant Sanctuary (BLES) when we were in Thailand. With places like that, ENP and a handful of others, that do so much for elephants, it’s hard for me to imagine why people want to go to the other places where elephants are treated so terribly.Katie recently posted…Learning to dive in Paradise (Koh Tao, Thailand)

Today one of our friends (20yearshence.com) shared a picture of an elephant walking the streets of Bangkok as people ate at the tables on the street and someone went around asking for change.

It’s a sorry state of affairs and our only hope is that the Thai government see that there’s more money for the country in places like ENP – and more importantly – the elephants get a much better life.Dale recently posted…How I Culled Negative People For A Happy Life

Awww! I would love to witness the birth of an elephant! I’ve seen the birth of a horse once and it just looks awfully painful with the short skinny legs and all but they do it and with such grace. The little baby is just adorable!Samantha @mytanfeet recently posted…Living in Costa Rica for under $1500 a Month

There’s one particular stage of the birthing process with elephants that we didn’t see, and that is how the mother wakes the baby up after it gives birth. We were shown a video and it’s quite the dramatic and intensive process. Basically, the mother kicks the baby around the floor until it wakes up. You’re left constantly thinking that she’s going to kill the baby, but it all works out in the end.